Agenda - 03-13-2007-8a - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 13, 2007 Action Agenda Item No. _ ~ ~~. - SUBJECT: Orange County Housing Rehabilitation Community Development Block Grant Program DEPARTMENT: Housing/Comm. Development PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) Yes ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara L. Fikes, ext 2490 PURPOSE: To receive comments from the public concerning the FY 2007 Housing Rehabilitation Program for Orange County. BACKGROUND: The County was recently notified by the N.C. Department of Commerce - Division of Community Assistance of the award of $400,000 in Scattered Site Housing Rehabilitation funds under the FY 2007 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. These grants are no longer competitive, .and each interested county in North Carolina is scheduled to receive an allocation every three years to provide housing rehabilitation funds for the county and the municipalities within the county. Orange County received $400,000 in housing rehabilitation funds in 2001 and 2004 and is designated to receive funds in 2007. These grant funds must be used to repair substandard housing occupied by low-income families in the Towns of Carrboro and Hillsborough as well as the unincorporated areas of Orange County. These funds may not be used in the Town of Chapel Hill since they receive Community Development Block Grant funding directly from HUD. In prior years, these funds have repaired approximately 26 dwelling units in the County. Families with incomes at or below 50% of area median income that own and occupy deteriorated housing are eligible to participate in the program. For the purpose of this program, deteriorated housing are dwelling units that that have existing housing code violations including houses that lack indoor plumbing. In order to receive this funding, the County must conduct two public hearings. The first hearing provides an opportunity to obtain citizen comments prior to developing an application for these funds and another hearing after the application is completed but prior to submission to the N.C. Department of Commerce. After initial public comment is received, an application document will be prepared with input from the Carrboro and Hillsborough members of the HOME Program Review Committee. A second public hearing will be planned for March 27, 2007 for additional citizen comment and the BOCC will be asked to approve submission of the application before March 30, 2007.